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Apple to Eliminate Home Button in 2017 iPhone
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Seriously who cares about next years iPhone. Im more interested in the iPhone 7. When the iPhone 7 comes out and all the discussion has completed, lets go nuts with next years iPhone. Pretty sad on Apples part when next years iPhone is getting more praise then this years.
They're making the classic mobile mistake. Similar thing that blackberry did all those years ago.
"we're going to release an amazing product, the best product, a product like you've never seen before that'll obsolete every other product! But not today! Next year, instead today, buy this marginal upgrade that'll be obsolete in 6 months time"
Don't be surprised when the iPhone 7 has less than stellar sales while people hold off to see what that new hyped future product has in store.
You mean years. It's been rumored ever since the beginning, but only took on a life of it's own since people started noticing how well the iPhone 6/6Plus/6S/6S Plus survives being immersed in water.
They'll just get rid of the camera. Then they'll sell you a wireless camera that will make your selfies more magical.
Yeah, probably the 8 something, or 7SE? LOL. It all depends on whether they decide to implement Touch ID into the whole display. It might be cost-prohibitive.
Something else to consider: If the whole display is Touch ID, then it needs to be sapphire laminated. The Touch ID sensor has a sapphire coating or might be all sapphire, I can't remember. It needs this because scratches mess with the recognition process. It will also need this if the whole thing is glass, but it will likely have to be laminated to something like a new version of Gorilla Glass for strength when dropped. Either that or Corning could come out with a brand new type of glass that combines the best of both worlds.
I have a feeling that the "real" iPhone 7 next year isn't some coincidence, but a culmination of several different technologies all coming to fruition at about the same time. Jony probably designed this thing years ago and has been chomping at the bit to put it out, making little refinements as the tech crystallizes. The Watch, Car and iOS UI stuff was probably a good distraction while he waited for it to come together. Now he gets to design the next crazy one several years down the road. I can't even imagine what his sketchbook must be like. I'd pay good money just to see it! Even after everything in it comes out, many years down the road. I'd love more insight into his process.
Cases will have to accomodate that, with a hole wide enough to lay the finger tip or thumb flat against it. Battery cases will be mostly unusuable.
Won't be able to unlock the phone when lying on a table without picking it up.
Won't be able to access it when driving with a car dock.
Hard to access the button when docked in regular docks, including Apple's lightning dock.
Lots of groping around the back of the phone to find the home button.
lol whoa relax bud. Can you really argue that they are innovating as compared to their competition? Their Mac line has been left in the dust, and their main money maker is about to have the same basic design for 3 years. I still love Apple and plan to get the new iPhone, but there is a bit of a drought right now. Not sure how you can argue otherwise. That's why their stock took a dive over the last year and iPhone sales are down. I hope they turn it around and hope that Tim wasn't spouting nonsense when he said there's a lot of innovation in the pipeline.
Since I bought iPhone 6s my usage of the home button has gone downhill.
They can implement another gesture, perhaps a force press at the bottom of the screen to simulate the home button press. The double click is not necessary to switch between apps since there is already a force pressure on the left side for that, so only reachability would miss and they could use another gesture for that.
As for the reboot they could make it possible via another combination of buttons, i.e. power button + up volume etc.
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Exactly right.
I care, because it's fun to fantasize about the futuristic features and style. And also fun to grumble about how the new features won't work, and how Apple should go back to the click wheel.
I'm upgrading to the iPhone 7 (assuming that is what Apple calls it) next month. Some of the features of the iPhone 8 are bound to be scaled back by the time it reaches production because they are too expensive or difficult to implement, or they didn't turn out to be useful in prototype. On some level, the iPhone 8 is going to be a disappointment, just as the first iPhone was, and every iPhone since. I'm not saying it won't be successful or that I won't love the iPhone 8. But it won't be as cool as the iPhone 9, and it probably won't be as cool as the sum total of all the rumors we're hearing and will hear before we see it released.
I'm due for an upgrade for my iPhone 6+. The 7+ looks to have some new stuff I like (such as the dual-lens camera) and most of the stuff from the 6S+, like raise to turn on and 3D touch and "Hey, Siri" when unplugged. Plus the "bigger GBs" in both storage and RAM.
A year from now I'll decide if the iPhone 8+ is worth an upgrade. Or I'll wait another year for the 8S+, which will be double plus cool.
Unless they make the entire screen (or at least half of it) capable of recognizing the fingerprint, I see a backlash coming once an iPhone without a home button is released. Right now, it's very easy to tell by feel where your finger needs to go so you don't even need to look at the iPhone to unlock it. If they take that home button away but keep the target roughly the same size, I can almost guarantee that people will start complaining that they have to look at their phone to know where the Touch ID sensor is.
Apple engineers have another year to figure it out if they haven't already. They're working on prototypes now, and they're probably having to reboot often. I don't think it's likely they'll forget a feature that they need themselves.
Transparent Aluminum.
Transparent Aluminium oxynitride: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride
(fixed that for you ...
)
Please, no more regurgitated rumors from analysts who heard from other analysts who read it on Macrumors.
Curved screens are already a very poor design and should have died with CRTs. Apple is not going to eliminate bezels entirely because as many here have already pointed out, there are important things in the bezels like front facing camera, fingerprint reader, infrared sensor, slot for ear speaker, and so on.
Why do people equate curved with "innovation"? It is actually detrimental design. I am sure Apple could make an "innovative" dodecahedron shaped phone but it would be absolutely horrendous to use.
Curved screens are already a very poor design and should have died with CRTs. Apple is not going to eliminate bezels entirely because as many here have already pointed out, there are important things in the bezels like front facing camera, fingerprint reader, infrared sensor, slot for ear speaker, and so on.
Why do people equate curved with "innovation"? It is actually detrimental design. I am sure Apple could make an "innovative" dodecahedron shaped phone but it would be absolutely horrendous to use.
many people I know are doing this, as my wife and I are. I am still hoping for OLED, which I didn't see mention din the article. Its early so i may have missed it
A lot of people in the office that are upgrading to iPhones are not even waiting for the 7 to come out because the 6s is the same thing for what they're looking for. I'm a big photo and video person. If the iPhone 7 is going to still gonna shoot 12mb photo's and 4k video, then I'm happy with my 6s+.
I remember the iPod Shuffle 3's similarly minimalist design - only sporting an on/off toggle switch. That didn't last long.
But at least it had a headphone socket.
One of my biggest turnoffs of Note7 isn't the Gorilla Glass 5 prone to scratching or it losing to an iPhone 6s at opening apps. My biggest turnoff is its low repairability rating on iFixit. Once it breaks, I am kinda screwed while iPhones have decent ratings at 6 or 7. Isn't difficult to replace the battery. That's my pet peeve with Note7, and I wished the Exynos / 128gb / 6gb RAM is available to more countries than just China.
Removing a physical home button is an addition by subtraction. My mind is already set on Note7 though. By leaving the physical home button to this iPhone 6se or 7 is just another good reason for me to lose interest in it. Apple is still stuck in the past. By 2017, the new iPhone design basically looks like the 2015-2016 Samsung flagships.
I realized from using Android that gesture swipes and shortcuts are the way to go. Been loving it since 2013. Less wear and tear. Quicker to access apps if the app isn't on the homescreen. Physical buttons is so "old school" to me like watching movies using physical media where the media player wear out too from all the moving parts.
No back action to exit apps, so...
Removing a physical home button is an addition by subtraction. My mind is already set on Note7 though. By leaving the physical home button to this iPhone 6se or 7 is just another good reason for me to lose interest in it. Apple is still stuck in the past. By 2017, the new iPhone design basically looks like the 2015-2016 Samsung flagships.
I realized from using Android that gesture swipes and shortcuts are the way to go. Been loving it since 2013. Less wear and tear. Quicker to access apps if the app isn't on the homescreen. Physical buttons is so "old school" to me like watching movies using physical media where the media player wear out too from all the moving parts.
No back action to exit apps, so...
My S7E that I had would have inadvertent touches on the edges because of the stupid bezelless design. I hated it and immediately went back to the iPhone. I for one am definitely not on the bezel train.
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No back action to exit apps, so...
No back button to exit apps? If you are exiting the app, why have a second button that does the same thing as the home button? Afterall, you are EXITING the app.
My iPhone 6 Plus occasionally fails to respond to my touch, but I've always thought the software/RAM was overloaded. Uh oh...